Archdiocese: $30M due from NY

Official: Money might've stopped school shutdowns

The Archdiocese of New York claims it is owed about $30 million in aid for performing tasks mandated by the state, including administering state tests and keeping detailed attendance and health records on students.

Comment

By MICHAEL RANDALL

recordonline.com

By MICHAEL RANDALL

Posted Feb. 2, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By MICHAEL RANDALL
Posted Feb. 2, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

The Archdiocese of New York claims it is owed about $30 million in aid for performing tasks mandated by the state, including administering state tests and keeping detailed attendance and health records on students.

And, they say, it's causing more than just budgetary headaches.

While the allegedly delinquent aid was not the sole determining factor in the closing of Catholic schools in recent years, Timothy McNiff, the archdiocese's superintendent of schools, said it played a role in those decisions.

Had the aid been in the archdiocese's hands, he said, "It would have prevented many schools from closing."

Regional boards and ad hoc reconfiguration committees last month recommended closing 22 archdiocesan schools in June, including St. Joseph's in Kingston and St. Mary of the Snow in Saugerties.

Two years ago, 27 schools were closed, including four in Orange County and one in Ulster County.

And the aid the archdiocese claims it is owed is just the tip of the iceberg.

James Cultrara, director for education with the New York State Catholic Conference — which lobbies on behalf of the archdiocese and other Catholic schools around the state — says delinquent payments claimed by all religious and other independent schools in New York total $210 million.

Cultrara estimated that figure could grow by $20 million under the proposed 2013-2014 budget as it stands now, despite a "modest increase" in appropriations.

Cultrara said a change in the formula used to determine the aid led to the shortfalls.

The state has reimbursed religious and independent schools for such costs since the 1970s.

But Cultrara said the problems began about 2006 when the department made an error in calculating how much was needed for reimbursements. The appropriation was short by about $15 million, he said.

"Rather than admit the error and pro-rate the reimbursements, they changed the formula to match the appropriation," Cultrara said.

As a result, the appropriation did not cover actual costs, he said.

Education Department spokesman Tom Dunn said that's not the case.

"The amount of aid that is appropriated to reimburse nonpublic schools for mandated services is subject to budget negotiations between the leglslature and the (governor)," Dunn said in a written statement issued Friday. "There has been no error on the part of the Education Department in the way we administer this aid; the department's role is to distribute the aid on the basis of the enacted budget, and that is what we have done and continue to do."

Cultrara said getting the allegedly delinquent aid paid, and the original formula restored, are high on the list of legislative priorities for the Catholic educational institutions around the state.